Reply to: Are IT bods/contractors smarter than everyone else?

[expat]

Expat, you are too damn serious for this forum. As a punishment for this incorrect behaviour you must read loud to yourself 10 Milan and SasGuru old posts for 10 days. That's enough as a "Mea Culpa".

Oh no, they are the life and soul of this party! If they go I go



Tell you what I'll do, I will stop posting a reply to everything I read. Oh wait....

[Francko]

Can you please tell me what you mean by that? Is it something I said? Because I have just looked back at all my posts on this thread, and I can not find any excessively latinate circumlocutions, except of course for this one.

Below are all my contributions up to the point of your post. Not that I think they are worth reading again, but I would really like to know what it is that you take exception to?

Expat, you are too damn serious for this forum. As a punishment for this incorrect behaviour you must read loud to yourself 10 Milan and SasGuru old posts for 10 days. That's enough as a "Mea Culpa".

[HermanDune]

When I was at uni doing Mech Eng some mixer decided to test the IQ of the social science degree students against the IQ of the engineering students. There was something like a 20 point jump in favour of engineering.

How many people and what was the range? Has it ever been replicated?

I shared a flat with three Mech Engineers and while they were undoubtedly bright at solving mathematical and logical puzzles, their levels of general knowledge were woefully poor. They had very little knowledge of history, current affairs, geography, poor personal hygiene, poor social skills, increidbly bad at learning foregin languages, and displayed an array of other "social handicaps". Apart from that they were quite a good laugh to live with.

They were ideal candidates for IQ tests as their way of thinking and learning were ideally suited for the logic puzzles/tests in an IQ test.

As for me dear reader, I was a social science student!

[expat]

I'd also dare to affirm to expat and assguru that complementing your discourses by leveraging latin-origined words does not augment the eloquentness of your speech but simply renders it in a more legible form for us latin-languages native speakers.

Can you please tell me what you mean by that? Is it something I said? Because I have just looked back at all my posts on this thread, and I can not find any excessively latinate circumlocutions, except of course for this one.

Below are all my contributions up to the point of your post. Not that I think they are worth reading again, but I would really like to know what it is that you take exception to?

I am afraid to say that I am continually disappointed by the low level of intelligence, education, and even logic, of the general population here. Sorry.

What complex issues? Most of the tech side of IT is logically quite similar to being a motor mechanic.

but it's obvious that the higher you set it, the faster it will warm up!

Hmm, me too.

As it has indeed hurt many a very intelligent person who was not well off, or "successful" by monetary standards.

Einstein was rejected for Uni for being too stroppy, and only got work as a clerk through nepotism. Ramanujan couldn't even matriculate in Madras University, but Hardy and Littlewood recognised his genius and paid for him to come to Cambridge. Wittgenstein only got on with his philosophy after Russell paid his debts.

Compared to them, I wouldn't be so proud of being able to boast of a modicum of success in the rat-race.

Trouble is, the abstraction you just performed would demand a relatively high IQ.

However, I do believe that a deep and wide ability in a particularly technical side of IT will probably correlate substantially with IQ, just because you have to be a bit smart to do it. ISTM that fewer and fewer of us do really technical programming any more. I know I don't; nor do I use very much of my IQ, except to make life easier. Perhaps that's what it's "meant for" anyway?

[OwlHoot]

What complex issues? Most of the tech side of IT is logically quite similar to being a motor mechanic.

Many of the complex issues are unnecessary complications in systems designed by thick, amateurish permies.

(although I've seen some horrors perpetrated by contractors too, and some permies are pretty clued up albeit usually only after years working on one system).

[Sockpuppet]

When I was at uni doing Mech Eng some mixer decided to test the IQ of the social science degree students against the IQ of the engineering students. There was something like a 20 point jump in favour of engineering.

IQ tests are flawed. You can "train" for them but it doesn't actually mean you are getting any smarter.

[expat]

IQ versus occupation:

http://i43.tinypic.com/24degd2.jpg

Does "computer occupations" include agents?

[Ivor Bigun]

Much better to do the role I am paid to do, and let others who are managers do their thing.

Now that IS smart.

[Ivor Bigun]

I'd also dare to affirm to expat and assguru that complementing your discourses by leveraging latin-origined words does not augment the eloquentness of your speech but simply renders it in a more legible form for us latin-languages native speakers.

........and relax......

[Francko]

I'd also dare to affirm to expat and assguru that complementing your discourses by leveraging latin-origined words does not augment the eloquentness of your speech but simply renders it in a more legible form for us latin-languages native speakers.

[Board Game Geek]

Are IT bods/contractors smarter than everyone else?

Dunno.

That does sound like a sweeping generalisation though.

As for myself and where I work, I keep quiet about ideas and improvements, since it's not my place to voice them. I'm a techie, so I behave as is expected of me.

The fact that I've been an IT manager for multi-million pound companies in the past, had teams working for me, and done all the high level politicking with the Board, stakeholders and Clients is not applicable to my current role.

Puffing up my chest as saying "When I used to work as XYZ...blah blah blah" isn't going to impress anyone and could be seen as arrogant.

Much better to do the role I am paid to do, and let others who are managers do their thing.

[sasguru]

As it has indeed hurt many a very intelligent person who was not well off, or "successful" by monetary standards.

Einstein was rejected for Uni for being too stroppy, and only got work as a clerk through nepotism. Ramanujan couldn't even matriculate in Madras University, but Hardy and Littlewood recognised his genius and paid for him to come to Cambridge. Wittgenstein only got on with his philosophy after Russell paid his debts.

Compared to them, I wouldn't be so proud of being able to boast of a modicum of success in the rat-race.

I hardly think Francko can be compared to Einstein, Ramanujan or Wittgenstein. He's probably never heard of one or more of them.
Which was the point, really.

[expat]

Just replace the word ‘design’ with ‘reserve’, ‘questionnaire’ with ‘table’ and ‘internal stakeholders’ with ‘diners’. I think that would make the structure of the sentence quite clear to most people with a basic understanding of English.

Trouble is, the abstraction you just performed would demand a relatively high IQ.

However, I do believe that a deep and wide ability in a particularly technical side of IT will probably correlate substantially with IQ, just because you have to be a bit smart to do it. ISTM that fewer and fewer of us do really technical programming any more. I know I don't; nor do I use very much of my IQ, except to make life easier. Perhaps that's what it's "meant for" anyway?

[expat]

It must hurt to have such a self-believed high IQ and yet be powerless and poor, buffeted by the vagaries of economic fortune.

As it has indeed hurt many a very intelligent person who was not well off, or "successful" by monetary standards.

Einstein was rejected for Uni for being too stroppy, and only got work as a clerk through nepotism. Ramanujan couldn't even matriculate in Madras University, but Hardy and Littlewood recognised his genius and paid for him to come to Cambridge. Wittgenstein only got on with his philosophy after Russell paid his debts.

Compared to them, I wouldn't be so proud of being able to boast of a modicum of success in the rat-race.

[sasguru]

Service Managers ... minimum IQ 85... mmm unfortunately neither assguru nor ivorbi can make it that high.... so they are not on that list, definitely.

It must hurt to have such a self-believed high IQ and yet be powerless and poor, buffeted by the vagaries of economic fortune.